Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

The Death to be Remembered!

All of us die. The reason is sin! There is no escaping this reality. No matter how man might decry and deny this reality, truth remains as truth. Man continues to be plagued by this frightful reality all his days. Many, in self denial, say they are not afraid of death. Such foolish boasting will not end well. All of us ought to be afraid of death. Once a man dies in sin, there is no escape from hell. He will be tormented day and night forever! This is the worst place to be in. No man should find himself there!

Death is a punishment inflicted upon man because of his sin against God. As long as sin remains, death prevails. This inevitable journey of all men, from birth to death, cannot be broken by any man. Good works will result in a form of righteousness that might seem good in the eyes of fellow sinful man but in the eyes of God it is filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” There is no exception! The founders of all religions throughout the ages have died; none of them escaped death. Death is final and everlasting! This is absolutely true if there is no God. This is absolutely true if the eternal God is not gracious, loving and merciful! Thank God that He is all gracious, loving and merciful.

God did something to save undeserving depraved humanity the moment death entered into their sin-filled lives.

The Death of Jesus Christ! – God sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for sinners. This happened the moment man fell into sin. God Himself gave fallen man the first good news by providing hope. He presented the good news to the serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The serpent which was possessed by the Devil was cursed by God with a deadly blow to its head. The serpent will bruise the heel of Christ. Bruising the heel of Christ means that Christ will die on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the world. The followers of the Devil like the high priests, Pharisees and scribes and Pilate and the mob will commit this dastard deed against Christ. Christ by His death will destroy the Devil. The works of the Devil in causing all humanity to sin and to be bound for hell is broken. Not all need to die in sin and end up in hell. Hebrews 2:14-16, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” [Emphasis added] The devil was given power over death on all humanity when man fell into sin. Jesus Christ came to die to deliver man from death and hell by removing sin from sinful man. He did so by dying for sinful man on the cross of Calvary! Why would He do that? He did it because of God's love and His love for sinful man. He did not take the form of angels but the seed of Abraham and became one of us. He was born like you and me but with a great difference. We were born with sin, for we were conceived in sin in our mother's womb; but Jesus Christ was born without sin, for He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. This was a miraculous and supernatural thing that God did to provide humanity for Jesus Christ, making Him the perfect God-man.

As the perfect God-man, Christ’s death was of infinite value. It was not only a man who died. As a man only He could only save one man. But as the God-Man, He could save the world. That was why John the Baptist declared, as Jesus Christ came to him to be baptized, that Christ was the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” This Lamb has the potential to save all the sins of all the billions of humanity. That is why the gospel of God's love in Christ is offered to the world as taught in Holy Scriptures. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Everywhere a disciple of Christ goes, he is duty bound to witness a good confession for Christ’s sake so that the gospel of Christ is seen in his life and heard through his lips. Freely offering the gospel to all is the great commission given by Jesus Christ Himself. Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

However, it is not a universal salvation whereby all humanity is automatically saved by Christ. The ones who are saved are the ones who accept God’s love in Christ. Those who reject will not be saved, for they are already condemned. All humanity is born in sin. Therefore all humanity is under condemnation. That is why Jesus Christ did not come to condemn but to save. John 3:17-21, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” [Emphasis added] Sinful man does not need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ to be condemned by God. It is his sin that has already condemned him. That is why he cannot stop sinning. He sins in his mind and heart before he sins in his deeds, for the lusts of the eyes and the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life burn within his very being! But in order to be saved, all need to hear the gospel. Jesus Christ came to save sinners and not to condemn sinners. He died to save sinners.

The sinner must come to Him by faith and accept Him as his Lord and Saviour. He must do so from his heart. He must do so unconditionally. Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” No one is excluded. Not even the virgin Mary, for she was born a totally depraved sinner like all humanity. Jesus Christ is her Lord and Saviour as well. She needed to accept Jesus Christ like all humanity in order to be saved. Thank God she did.

Is it the singular act of the virgin birth of Christ that saves mankind from sin, death and hell?

The Life of Jesus Christ – The virgin birth of Jesus Christ was just the beginning of His humanity. Through the virgin birth, Christ was born without sin unlike the rest of humanity that was born in sin. From His birth onwards, Jesus Christ will always be the God-man. He is still the God–man today as every believer’s great High Priest seated at God's right hand interceding for them. Christ lived a perfect life on earth from His birth to His death. He fulfilled all of God's laws perfectly on man’s behalf as the God-man. He attained for sinful man the righteousness that is of the law. This is important as all who believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour will be imputed with this same righteousness of the law. The imputation is significant in that when the believer is imputed with this righteousness it is as if he has obeyed all the laws of God perfectly and that he has not broken a single one of them. Once this righteousness has been imputed, it remains with the believer forever. It will not be revoked or be lost even when the believer sins after salvation. This righteousness of the law will cause the disciple of Christ to repent each time he sins as his desire for righteousness is like that of a man thirsting and hungering for food. This is how Jesus described it in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

The death of Christ is His passive obedience to the requirements of God to die for sinners. The life of Christ, lived perfectly according to all the laws of God, is His active obedience that satisfies God’s entire requirement to grant righteousness to all believers in Christ. The life and death of Christ are inseparable. Jesus Christ not only died and took away all our sins, He also rose from the dead for every believer’s justification so that believers will be fit for heaven in holiness, godliness and righteousness! God expects all believers to live in this same holiness, godliness and righteousness that are already theirs to experience so that by their good works, the world will see Christ in them and glorify God who is in heaven by becoming believers themselves!

This is the great work of salvation in Christ that every believer must never forget as they live on this earth as Christ’s witnesses.

The Remembrance of His Death and Life – That is why Jesus Christ commanded all His disciples throughout the ages to remember Him and what He has done for them in their lives! The rest of the unsaved world needs to see Christ in the lives of His disciples before He returns to judge the world. When the second coming of Christ becomes a reality, the day of salvation will be over and the day of judgement will begin. All sinners will remain as sinners and sent to hell. All the righteous will be righteous forever and will enter the new heaven and new earth! The witness of Christ’s disciples will accomplish this work of salvation before the end comes. They must not be seduced by the world. They must not be afraid when they are persecuted for Christ’s sake. They must never forget the spiritual experience of Christ’s life and death in their lives. That is why Jesus Christ gave all His disciples the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper! They are to keep this sacrament in remembrance of Him. By so doing, they will keep on re-consecrating their lives to live only for Him and repudiate the seductions of the world.

The impact of the life and death of Jesus Christ is summarised in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” All disciples of Jesus Christ are never to forget what Christ had done for them on Calvary! They do so by shewing “the Lord’s death till He come.” The verb “shew” means “to declare plainly and publicly.” Believers are like messengers who will not stop telling the world the great work of Christ in their lives. They do so till Christ returns. Generation after generation of believers have been entrusted with this great honour and commission. They promote Christ from the time they are born again till the Lord takes them home. They do so faithfully. They do not forget that salvation was freely offered and given because of God‘s grace, but it cost Jesus Christ His life’s blood when He died for all believers.

Conclusion – Easter is not about Easter eggs or bunnies or fun and laughter. It is about Christ. The world mocks and as usual has turned the remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection into a time of merry making and carnality. There is nothing about Christ in the way the world remembers Easter. But to children of God, Easter is a time of remembering Christ’s suffering and death on the cross for their sins. However, all believers need to know that God does not want them to ever forget what the Lord Jesus Christ did for them. And they are not to remember only once a year, which is grossly insufficient. All God’s children as disciples of Christ must faithfully serve Him by remembering Christ’s death and resurrection daily till He returns. Amen.